Benghazi bomb targets US embassy (June 7th, 2012)

A bomb exploded outside the US diplomatic mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi overnight, an attack that could be retaliation for the killing, in a US drone strike, of al Qaeda's Libyan second-in-command.

An improvised explosive device was dropped from a passing vehicle onto the road outside the mission, in an upmarket area of central Benghazi.

It exploded moments after, slightly damaging the building's gate, US and Libyan officials said.

Washington had confirmed a few hours before the attack that a US-operated drone had killed Abu Yahya al-Libi, a Libyan-born cleric and senior al Qaeda operative, in Pakistan.

The bombing will revive concerns about the lack of security in Libya, where last year Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in an uprising supported by NATO air power...

"Al Qaeda loyalists maybe wanted to deliver a message to the US ...to say enough is enough," he said.

A spokesman for Libya's interim government - which has allied itself closely with Washington - said that one of the security personnel in the area of the US mission had sustained minor wounds in the explosion.

The street in Benghazi where the diplomatic mission is located was cordoned off on Wednesday.

At the embassy building in Tripoli, three security guards were on duty but there was no evidence of any increased Libyan security presence.

A trade mission from the United States was scheduled to hold meetings starting on Thursday in Tripoli and Benghazi. It was not clear if these would now go ahead.

A spokesman for Libya's ruling National Transitional Council, Mohammed al-Harizy, said investigators had leads on who might have carried out the attack, but did not give any details.

Experts on militant groups had predicted that the killing of Libi, described by US officials as a major blow to al Qaeda, would provoke some kind of backlash in his home country.

Though he spent much of his life outside Libya, he was a member of the now-defunct Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which fought an insurgency against Gaddafi in the 1990s, and his family is well known in Libya.

His brother, Abu Bakr al-Qayed, told Reuters by telephone he knew nothing of the Benghazi attack. Asked if he thought there would be a reaction in Libya to Libi's killing, he said only: "I don't know, but the Muslim is the brother of the Muslim."

Benghazi, Libya's second city, has become a focus for insurgent-style attacks in the past few months, but the overnight attack was the first time a US facility in Libya had been targeted since Gaddafi was overthrown.

On May 22, a rocket-propelled grenade hit the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the city, blasting a small hole in the building but causing no casualties.

A month earlier, a bomb was thrown at a convoy carrying the head of the UN mission to Libya.

Underscoring the lack of proper security in Libya, a disgruntled volunteer militia this week occupied Tripoli international airport for several hours, leaving bullet holes in at least one jet and forcing airlines to cancel flights.

"The US State Department said it had asked Libyan authorities to increase security around US facilities."

""We deplore the attack on our diplomatic mission in Benghazi," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a news briefing."

"Toner said a local guard reported that an attack was underway against one of the Benghazi compound's perimeter walls and warned diplomatic staff to take cover."

"The bombing will revive concerns about the lack of security in Libya..."

"The fragile government is still struggling to restore stability after the revolt and arms and explosives looted from Gaddafi's arsenals are easily available."

"Toner said WASHINGTON WAS AWAITING RESULTS FROM AN INVESTIGATION BY THE LIBYAN GOVERNMENT, but had NO REASON TO SUSPECT the attack was retaliation for Libi's killing."

"Some security analysts disagreed: "The possibility that this act took place because of what happened to Abu Yahya is, in my personal opinion, a very strong one," said Noman Benotman, a Libyan former Islamist who is now an expert on militant groups."

""Al Qaeda loyalists maybe wanted to deliver a message to the US ...to say enough is enough," he said."

The State Department treated the bombing as a criminal matter and relied on the recently installed National Transitional Government to conduct an investigation plus supply security. The government had it's hands full trying to stabilize the area, they were so short of police they used ex-terrorits turned "freedom fighters" to guard the city. The eastern area was/is full of terrorists and that's where the US Consul was located yet the State Department treated it like it everything was stable. It's clear that they had the same mind-set on the 9-11-12 bombing.

Who was providing on the ground American Intel? Who were the 30'ish CIA agents at the other location working for...? Why weren't they be contacted to provide answers - (we were told they were too scattered)? Were they INTEL NGO's working for the International Crisis Group (ICG)? Were they contracted by the State Department? Thomas Pickering who is heading up the "Accountability Review" is Chairman of the ICG.

EURASIA GROUP – (founded 1998) is generally recognized to be the first to systematically bring political science as a discipline to Wall Street.[4]

In March 2005, Eurasia Group acquired the assets of INTELLIBRIDGE, a Washington DC-based strategic advisory firm founded by former-National Security Advisor Anthony Lake and David Rothkopf.[11]

Terms of the aquision were not made public though Intellibridge had received some $28 million in Venture Capital since being founded in 1999.

Intellibridge’s assests (including Homeland Security Monitor) were purchased in 2005 by EURASIA GROUP, the political risk consultancy.[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasia_Group

Thomas Pickering (chairman of International Crisis Group (ICG) Soros is on the ICG Advisory Board.

Civil Research and Development Foundation - CRDF Global is an “... independent nonprofit organization that promotes international scientific and technical collaboration ...”[1]

CRDF Global was authorized by the U.S. Congress in 1992 under the Freedom Support Act and established in 1995 by the National Science Foundation under the name U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation.

This unique public-private partnership promotes international scientific and technical collaboration through grants, technical resources, and training[2]. CRDF Global is based in Arlington, Virginia, and has offices in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia; Kiev, Ukraine; Almaty, Kazakhstan; and Amman, Jordan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRDF_Global

Does this organization that supplies the Intel and “other resources” for ICG? Thomas Pickering is Chairman of CDRF.

Working together, NGOs and journalists can create stronger international reporting

“...The issue of influence is even more opaque when it comes to money. NGOs are not in the business of subsidizing media, but often help offset costs for journalists just by virtue of where they work. Kavanagh explains, “In some ways they are always covering part of my costs, when [a humanitarian organization] flies me out and puts me up in their private home, there is no cash transaction but they are covering costs for me…It is a gray area, and it is in some ways getting murkier,” he says...”

“There’s another kind of danger for NGOs that allow journalists into close quarters. What if they don’t like what they see within the operation? “There is a certain ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ arc to it,” the New York Times’ Malcomson says. Refugees International’s (UN/Malloch Brown-Soros) Parra says that it is frustrating when the journalists they help produce coverage that isn’t flattering, or that oversimplifies sophisticated policy points.”

“For advocacy organizations such as International Crisis Group (Soros), Refugees International(UN-Malloch Brown-Soros) or Human Rights Watch (Soros), attention to an issue can affect policy, which in turn can impact lives....”

“...Although many organizations lack official policies, and while it might not be the perfect match for everyone, the fact is, NGO-media partnerships are happening. And they have the potential to lead to stronger foreign news reporting and better serve audiences interested in an increasingly interconnected world.”
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/publication-type/commentary/abbott-working-together-ngos-and-journalists-can-create-stronger-international-reporting.aspx

Media in bed with NGO’s. How ethical is that? And is the international reporting we’re getting from a UN/Soros NGO conglomerate working in tandem with the MSM decent? Are the MSM telling us the source of their investigations? Makes me feel kinda sick especially since it’s not disclosed. Is this why people like Wolf Blitzer, Ted Koppel, Tom Brokaw, attend their functions and even sit on their boards?

“...Yes, we need more security, but not hunkered down in fortress embassies with early curfews and not at the expense of connecting with people from all walks of life.”

...”When asked about the incident, which began with the protest against an anti-Islamic film, a prominent SALAFIDT LEADER from Benghazi was emotional and emphatic: “We must condemn the film ... and we must condemn the killing of the ambassador ... He was an innocent man.””

“The main problem in Libya is that it still lacks a fully functioning state, a state that QADDAFI TRIED VERY HARD TO DISMANTLE. The army and police are dilapidated. So why hasn’t Libya descended into chaos? Our ICG report “Divided We Stand: Libya’s Enduring Conflicts,” which we were in Libya to discuss with Chris Stephens and others, attempts to provide some answers.”

“Sometimes they are in a position to pursue those who have perpetrated the CATALYZING CRIMINAL ACTS. To make peace, these local leaders appeal to the higher ideals of Libyan identity and Islam, along with exerting social pressure and deploying traditional concepts of customary law.”
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/north-africa/libya/op-eds/lawrence-libyas-volunteer-peacekeepers.aspx

Written by William Lawrence who directs the North Africa Project for the International Crisis Group.

And that’s the mindset. He believed the Salafist. The “greenies” didn’t believe Quaddafi was all bad and blaming him on the lawlessness post-Quaddafi, post civil war shows little commonsense. And to call terrorist attacks “catalyzing criminal acts” is downright dangerous and to ask that they appeal to their Libyan ideals and Islam shows a total misunderstanding of Political Islam. He was a friend of Chris Stevens, one can only assume that Chris and this author were of the same mind-set.

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Don't worry! Obama knows what is responsible!

He immediately attacked the guilty party!

The First Amendment